Air conditioning with ground cooling and solar heat



May 8, 1934. WARNER 1,957,624

AIR CONDITIONING WITH GROUND COOLING AND SOLAR HEAT Filed Feb. 6, 1930 Patented May 8, 11934- Douglas K. Warner, Bristol, Conn.

Application February 6,

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the heating, cooling, and humidity regulation in theatres or other buildings, and utilizes, to accomplish this purpose, the constant temperature of the ground far below the building together with the suns heat on the roof which would otherwise be adding discomfort to the building. The invention is also assisted by gravity, the water in the air washer being sprayed out horizontally, instead of vertically, the spray being permitted to drop a long distance against an upward air circulation, so producing a counter-flow heat interchange, the air leaving the spray chamber at a temperature close to that of the entering water, and the water leaving at a temperature close to the dew point of the entering air, the water then being wasted or sprayed over the ground to soak in and add some of its volume to the springs feeding a reservoir deep underground. The cooling of the go theatre is also assisted by gravity, for the air is brought in at the top, cooled, and iiows out the doors or" the front entrance. The low cost of the refrigeration permits using all fresh air without recirculation of the used and odorous theatre air, so that a very large volume of cooled air passes out the front door and attracts patronage by creating a noticeable change in atmosphere in the street directly in front or the theatre. In winter, the underground water is warm enough to do all the heating required on the entering air, the balance of the heat required being supplied by the people in the audience, a much smaller quantity of air being circulated in winter than in summer. In summer the air must be reheated after washing to get the proper humidity. Since heat is required in sun ter, it is desirable to utilize he huge quantities of heat available on the roor in summer. A section of the roof is accordingly covered with a cheese-cloth awning to prevent air circulation and not in winfrom carrying off moisture, and water is then flowed over the hot roof and accumulated in a tank for reheating the air in the evenings.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. I represents the front view of a theatre a section being shown of the upper part showing the air entrance K, the air washer M, the spray bank J, the water eliminators L set at an angle, the hot water radiators N, fan 0 driven by motor P, the air screen openings to the theatre V, and the doors open at the entrance X to permit the air to leave the building. A represents the underground tunnel or reservoir, B the water level in said tunnel, C the pump pit not over 15 feet above B, D a quiet pump to handle the water, I the pipe thru which 1930, Serial No. 426,320

the water travels to the spray nozzles, H the pipe thru which it returns to the seepage spray pond. The cheese-cloth over the roof is represented by Q, part of it being cut away to show the water draining over the roof from perforated pip-e R. S is the roof drain to tank T, U is the pump to circulate the warm water thru the radiators N and back up to the roof thru R. Ordinary steam boilers may of course be used to heat the radiators, and cold streams or springs, if of sufficient a temperature in its single pass so that each.

pound may do the maximum amount of cooling before being wasted.

In usual air conditioning apparatus water enters the spray nozzles at about 45 degrees 1 and leaves the spray chamber one or two degrees temperature difierent than the entering temperature, and is then recirculated after being brought back to its original temperature. In my apparatus water enters at about 5% degrees and is run to waste at '70 to degrees. Air entering the bottom of the spray chamber at degrees may thereby be cooled to nearly 50 de recs much less water. This economy or" water is made possible by the high spray chamber with its top entirely filled with spray nozzles directed downward and with an exceptionally long upward counterfiow travel of the air. While the air temperature can not be brought as low the reduced cost of cooling and heating permits greater quantities of air to be circulated thus giving the same final temperature and humidity as where a small quantity of air is cooled to a lower temperature with mechanical refrigeration and mixed with recirculated air. Due to the immense amount of surface in the falling spray, this temperature transition is possible in a very limited space and the. spray is enough heavier than the air to make this simple counterfiow system possible. Water staying the same temp. year round, will efiect constant humidity for the Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. An air conditioning apparatus including means for spraying cold water into a high chamber thru which air is passed upward thru the water together with means for eliminating the its water from the air and also means for drying the air with water heated by the sun and means for distributing the air in a building.

2. A method of air conditioning comprising the storing of water which has been heated or cooled by seepage thru the ground, the storing also of water which has been heated by solar radiation,

DOUGLAS K. WARNER. 

